Apple Beats Microsoft in Quarterly Profit for First Time Ever

Apple has surpassed Microsoft in quarterly profits for the first time ever, bagging $760 million dollars more during the first calendar quarter of 2011. Microsoft announced today that its net profit for the past quarter – the company’s third fiscal quarter – is $5.23 billion. Last week, Apple reported profits of $5.99 billion over the same period, which is its second fiscal quarter of 2011.

Six months ago, Apple’s excellent performance in recent years was highlighted when the Cupertino company surpassed Microsoft in quarterly revenue for the first time in nearly 15 years. Despite this, Microsoft continued to hold Apple off when it came to profits, largely due to the high profit margins it achieves with its software business.

Apple’s latest accomplishment is now the third time the company has trumped Microsoft over the past year. In May of 2010, Apple first surpassed Microsoft in market capitalization, then went on to surpass Microsoft in quarterly revenue in October, and has now surpassed Microsoft in quarterly profits.

Apple’s market cap is now nearly $100 billion higher than Microsoft’s. It’s no wonder Apple has enough cash reserves to keep the company going until 2018, without selling another single product.

About the author:

Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.

Lynda B

Reminds me about how Michael Dell once said publicly that Steve Jobs should just close Apple down and give the money that was left over back to the stockholders. Vindication! :)

Brian Fløe

@Lynda Bha ha! Exactly! And many people now has egg on their face ;) I’m sharing this on MyAppleSpace !

Mike Rathjen

MS profits would go way up if they simply closed down everything that’s never made them money and stop trying. The only things they do that make money are Windows, Office, Enterprise, and MAYBE Xbox.

Those massively profitable products lines are seriously hampered by subsidizing the losers, which is virtually everything else they do.

They repeatedly come out with products and entire ecosystems, throw tens of millions (or even hundreds of millions) of dollars worth of marketing muscle at it, then shut them down a year later or even sooner. PlaysForSure, Zune, Bob, Live Search Books, Windows Mobile, Windows Marketplace for Mobile? And for crying out loud, how many weeks did Kin last?

Microsoft does a lot of stuff really well. They need to stick with those things and improve them instead of floundering around in dozens of markets losing money left and right.